Complex Civil Litigation
Our attorneys have over 75 years of combined experience in litigating business disputes in state and federal courts and before arbitration panels throughout Virginia and surrounding jurisdictions. We represent clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and individuals. We handle large, complex matters, yet are small enough that each case receives individual attention. In litigation matters we can serve either as lead counsel or as local counsel.
Our successful engagements have covered a full range of claims including construction defect claims; commercial claims; comprehensive liability claims; environmental claims; personal lines and homeowner claims; first party bad faith claims; employment-related claims including claims of discrimination; commercial and business claims; securities claims; and bankruptcy claims.
Our attorneys also represent insurers in the investigation, evaluation, and litigation of coverage matters under a variety of insurance policies. The Firm's attorneys have significant experience in coverage issues including the analysis of contractual coverage, policy conditions, policy exclusions, defining "occurrence," duty to defend, reservation of rights, and notice.
Butler Williams & Skilling, P.C. is known for knowledgeable and cost-effective legal representation. We recognize that the cost of litigation sometimes outweighs its benefits, and that the pragmatic solution of a dispute can call for compromise. Our attorneys are respected for their ability to settle disputes without resorting to litigation, and offer assistance in mediation, arbitration, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
Representative Engagements:
- We recently represented an individual who had been sexually harassed and ultimately raped on her employer’s premises by a supervisor. The victim sued the employer and the supervisor, alleging among other things that the supervisor’s propensities were well known to the employer. Just before trial, the matter settled with a substantial payment to the employee.
- In another matter we represented a bond manager/trader who was recruited by a brokerage firm to leave his employment in New York and move his family to Richmond. When the brokerage firm failed to live up to its promises, arbitration ensued. The brokerage firm denied all wrongdoing, but the arbitration panel disagreed and awarded our client a substantial sum following evidentiary hearings that extended over several days.
- We represented a franchisor in a dispute with a franchisee over the payment of royalties. The franchisee also alleged fraud in the inducement in an effort to escape its obligations under the franchise agreement. Our client prevailed in a bench trial and was paid in full.
- A client engaged in the leasing of scaffolding systems was sued when a project superintendent, involved in the renovation of an office building, fell from a ninth-floor platform and was killed. We moved to dismiss the claim on the ground that the client was a “statutory employer” of the decedent, with the result that the claim was barred by workers’ compensation laws. The trial court’s decision in our favor was upheld by the Supreme Court of Virginia in Peck v. Safway Steel Prods., Inc., 262 Va. 522, 551 S.E.2d 328 (2001).
- Our firm also has significant experience with appeals. In one such representation, we were hired by a large Washington, D.C., law firm to assist them with an appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia. The appeal was made more challenging when the D.C. firm’s courier was delayed and attempted to file the notice of appeal “after hours” on the last day such a filing would be timely. When the opposing party sought to dismiss the appeal on this ground, our attorneys sidestepped this thorny issue by arguing that the order appealed from was not “final” after all. The Supreme Court of Virginia agreed, the matter was remanded to the trial court for further proceedings, and the client was able to perfect a timely appeal at a later date.